Aysha Wills

Fluit

My name is Aysha Wills and I have been extremely passionate about the history of the flute and its performance from an early age. Being a musician is rewarding, fascinating, yet challenging; any parent of a musician can attest to the fact that lessons and instruments are not cheap. However, my parents have supported me most of my life, providing me with lessons, support, and many instruments during my studies and career. I feel that it is now time to find other ways to support myself. I will forever be indebted to them.

Being a historical instrumentalist means that one must learn many styles of performance, from the Renaissance up until the present. Like most instruments, the flute has been evolving constantly since its birth in prehistory. As an early music specialist, I must be knowledgeable about many of this evolutions, and must also own many instruments in order to be able to perform and work in my field. Until recently, I had a huge gap in my collection: I did not own a ‘classical’ flute (from the end of the 18th/beginning of the 19th century). This meant that I could not play any late Mozart, late Haydn, Stamitz concerti…. The list goes on. It is all very important repertoire for the flute, and I had to turn down concert invitations in the past for lack of a suitable instrument.

Thanks to SEM, I have been able to purchase an 8 keyed Grenser copy by Rudolf Tutz (Innsbruck). It is not a new flute, but that is no disadvantage in my field. Rudolf Tutz was one of the greatest makers of these instruments and sadly passed away a few years ago, so I was thrilled to be able to own one of his instruments. It is beautiful. I am eternally grateful to the donors who made this possible, and I am looking forward to making a recording on this instrument in the coming two years, as well as playing it many times in orchestral and chamber engagements.

I never thought I’d be able to own this instrument, let alone with the help of a stichting. Thank you to Idske, Titia, the donors, and all of the people who made this possible. It really is beautiful that so many people work together to help make the dreams of young musicians a reality.